Airlines have over time become stricter about luggage size and weight limits, and have introduced high fees for conveying luggage that is over their weight limit. Weight and size limits for luggage can vary from airline to airline, and even by type of flight (for example, international flights typically have a higher weight limit than domestic flights), and a consumer can no longer know in advance whether an item of luggage will meet size and weight restrictions. It has thus become more important to travelers to be able to measure the weight of their luggage before they set out to travel to an airport to check in for a flight. Various consumer-oriented luggage scales have been proposed, but most of the known scales suffer from various drawbacks.
In particular, it is often difficult for people to lift luggage items safely, which luggage scales require them to do. Because they do not necessarily know the proper safe lifting techniques, a person can easily injure their back while lifting luggage, especially if they are not in good physical condition. Most of the known portable electronic scales do not help a person to lift their luggage safely. Also the known scales may have handles which are uncomfortable to hold, may require the person to lift the luggage high up in order to view the weight read-out, and may not allow two-handed operation.
It is therefore desirable to provide novel designs of luggage scales for consumer use, particularly those which are easy to use and which provide ergonomic advantages.